The Prescription for Cost-Effective Marketing

Most marketing in healthcare today is ineffective, and because it is ineffective, it is very costly.

What is the prescription for this problem?

One of my marketing mentors is Dan Kennedy. Dan is a long-time marketing guru. He has

shown that there are three core factors for cost-effective marketing.

These three core factors are the prescription for cost-effective.

These three core factors are:


1. Market – You need to determine who your target market is.

As a healthcare provider it is easy to say that patients are the target market, but that is not specific enough.

If you are a plastic surgeon, your target market is only people who are unhappy with their appearance for whatever reason.

If you are an Orthodontist, your target market is usually kids who are between 8 and 14 years old. Yet, your real market is probably the mothers of those kids.

Who is your target market? In answering this question, it is often helpful to ask yourself who your favorite patients are. Why are they your favorites? Is it that you love treating the specific healthcare issue they had? Is it that their personalities fit well with yours?

Once you answer those questions, then write down specific details common to your favorite patients.

What is their gender? Educational background? Are they from urban or rural locations?

Where do their kids go to school? Where do they travel? Where do they shop?

Are they more conservative or more liberal? What fears do they have? What problems in life are they dealing with?

What sports do they like? What teams do they follow?

Are they employed? What is their occupation? Are they retired? Etc. …

Once you know specifically who your ideal patients are, that is your your target market.

Then, you need to create a marketing message that will appeal to your target market.


2. Message – Once you have identified your dream patients, you need to create a customized marketing message which will appeal to your ideal patients.

This message will address their primary healthcare issue and tell how much better they could be with your specific treatment.

It is critical that the message focuses on the benefit to the patient.

For example, an Orthopaedic Surgeon who specializes in total joint replacements could have a message like this: “Is your arthritic knee pain keeping you from the lifestyle you want? New minimally invasive, robot assisted, minimally painful, outpatient knee replacement can dramatically relieve your pain and get you back to all the activities you desire!”

This message separates out those patients who have knee arthritis which is so painful it has interfered with their lifestyle.

It then deals with common questions.

How long of an incision? Minimally invasive.

Will I have to stay overnight? Outpatient knee replacement.

What treatment are you offering? Knee replacement.

Isn’t that really painful? Minimally painful.

What are you doing differently? Robot assisted. ….

What will it accomplish for me?  Get you back to your desired activites!

Your marketing message will need to be customized for your ideal patients and for what their diagnoses are and for what treatment you are offering.

Once you have created your message, you need to send it to your patients via the appropriate media.


3. Media – Your marketing message then needs to be distributed to your dream patients via the appropriate media.

What media is best? It depends on your target patients.

What media do they consume most?

If your target patients are younger, you should reach them via Instagram, TikTok, or Snap Chat.

If your ideal patients are older females, you should use Pinterest or Facebook.

In the joint replacement example above, it would be best to use Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

Which social media platforms you choose depends on who your target patients are.

And don’t forget about email. One of your best marketing options is to reach out with your message to existing patients. You should have their email address. And email marketing is free. It is important to keep your existing patients aware of how you help patients and aware of your appreciation of them.

Within each social media platform, the types of posts that are currently most effective vary with time, sometimes even within a few months.

For example, YouTube shorts have been very effective recently. Facebook Reels also. And carousel ads have been working well. Even green screen ads have been hot on several platforms.

Be sure to stay up to date on what is working best right now on each platform.

Summary:

Those are the three core factors of cost-effective marketing. The Prescription!

Have you been marketing? If not, you should.

Has your marketing been effective? If not, have you maximized the three keys above?

Marketing should be an investment, not an expense.

If you received $3 - $5 in revenue for every $1 you spent on marketing, how much would you be willing to spend? An unlimited amount, correct? That’s effective marketing.

Use this prescription. It will transform your marketing and your practice.